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Subject:Re: Origin of PC terms From:John Renish <John -dot- Renish -at- CONNER -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 8 Jun 1995 08:35:54 PDT
I haven't heard of it but have noticed it, as has Berk Breathed, who has (I
think) Steve Dallas' mother referring to "colored people" in his strip
*Outland*. Steve patiently explains the evolution of the PC terminology,
ending with the current "people of color," to which she replies,
triumphantly, "colored people." One can't help noticing that the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons has not changed its name
over these many years.
OTOH, certain members of vilified groups have appropriated clearly negative
terms, thereby turning them against the vilifiers. Examples are Queer Nation
and Niggers with Attitude. German Jews have similarly appropriated the old
Nazi anthem, the Horst Wessel Lied, substituting their own words. One
interesting sidelight to this phenomenon is that 'black' was once a term of
vilification used as such only by persons of easily identifiable Sub-Saharan
African descent (how's that for a PC term?).
The observation about women is not entirely correct (remember womyn?), but
they do seem to be trying more to be seen as integral to society these days,
rather than as an identifiable bloc.
The lesson in all this for writers is that we cannot be politically correct
over time. If I wrote 'black' in 1950, I would have been offensive; if I
wrote it in 1970, I would have been sensitive; if I write it today, I would
be offensive. PC is a sucker's game where writers are concerned because we
cannot know how long our work will remain in circulation. Best we find the
most neutral terms possible and stick to them: we can only hope that we will
not have to turn all our writing so bloodless.
John -dot- Renish -at- conner -dot- com
My statements are my own and do not represent Conner Peripherals, Inc.
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